The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for automatically determining when oil in a motor vehicle has been changed.
Sensors have been provided which automatically monitor the quality of oil in a motor vehicle to alert drivers in a timely fashion when maintenance should be performed as dictated by the actual condition of the oil. As the condition of the oil deteriorates, an oil condition sensor can send a signal to the vehicle instrumentation control to illuminate an in-dash warning light that may read, xe2x80x9cChange Oil Soon.xe2x80x9d As the condition of the oil reaches a predetermined critical threshold, another light, such as xe2x80x9cChange Oil Now,xe2x80x9d can be illuminated.
After the oil is changed, these sensors, and the corresponding warning lights, must be reset. The present invention recognizes that these sensors are typically reset by hand. However, the present invention understands that a technician might forget to reset the warning lights.
The present invention has recognized these prior art drawbacks, and has provided the below-disclosed solutions to one or more of the prior art deficiencies. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for determining when the oil in an engine has been changed and automatically resetting the oil condition sensor thereafter.
A computer-implemented method for automatically resetting an oil alarm lamp after an oil change in a vehicle includes receiving a current signal representative of at least one current oil parameter value from a sensor that is associated with an oil alarm light, comparing the current value to a prestored value, and based on the comparing act, selectively resetting the lamp.
In a presently preferred embodiment, the sensor is a level sensor, the prestored value is a prestored oil level value, the current value is a current oil level value, and the method further includes periodically energizing the sensor to obtain the current oil level value. Moreover, in a preferred embodiment, the comparing act produces a difference value, and the method further includes determining whether the difference value is greater than a difference threshold, and when the difference value is greater than the difference threshold, determining whether the current oil level value indicates empty. If the currently oil level indicates empty, the lamp is reset. Otherwise, the prestored oil level value is set equal to the current oil level.
In another embodiment, the sensor generates at least one signal representative of an oil parameter value other than level. The oil parameter value establishes the current value. The oil parameter value more preferably represents both a current oil impedance value and a current oil condition value, and the prestored value includes at least a prestored oil condition value and a prestored oil impedance value. The comparing act is undertaken by adding an impedance difference value representative of the difference between the prestored oil impedance value and the current oil impedance value to a condition difference value representative of the difference between the prestored oil condition value and the current oil condition value. In a preferred embodiment, the comparing act is undertaken only if a temperature of oil equals at least a threshold temperature.
In another aspect of the present invention, a computer program device includes a computer program storage device readable by a digital processing apparatus and a program means on the program storage device and including instructions executable by the digital processing apparatus for performing method acts for determining when an oil change has been undertaken on a vehicle. In this aspect of the present invention, the method acts include comparing at least one current oil parameter value with a prestored oil parameter value and based on the comparing act, outputting a signal representative of whether oil has been changed in the vehicle.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: